Drag racing fans streak to Evadale Raceway on weekends

Daniel Mahe, Beaumont Enterprise

By Daniel Maher

Published 1:37 pm, Saturday, June 28, 2014

Workers at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway use an ATV and a golf cart to get around as they prepare for drivers Friday afternoon. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Workers at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway use an ATV and a...

A driver starts his solo run at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway track on Friday evening. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

A driver starts his solo run at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark...

A driver performs a burnout before his solo run at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Friday evening. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

A driver performs a burnout before his solo run at the Ben Bruce...

Rodney Rohn waits for the next driver at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Friday evening. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Rodney Rohn waits for the next driver at the Ben Bruce Memorial...

Bill Allbritton, right, hops a short concrete barrier to check the 1000-foot sensor as Fred Irby uses a sweeper to clear water from the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway track Friday afternoon. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Bill Allbritton, right, hops a short concrete barrier to check the...

Bill Allbritton checks one of the 1000-foot sensors at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpack Raceway on Friday afternoon. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Bill Allbritton checks one of the 1000-foot sensors at the Ben...

After a wet day, the stands at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway are empty on Friday afternoon. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

After a wet day, the stands at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark...

Bill Allbritton checks the reflector of the 1000-foot sensor at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpack Raceway on Friday afternoon. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Bill Allbritton checks the reflector of the 1000-foot sensor at the...

Brandon Browder stands ready to direct drivers into their lanes at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Friday evening. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Brandon Browder stands ready to direct drivers into their lanes at...

Rodney Rohn watches a lone driver accelerate down the lane at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Friday evening. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Rodney Rohn watches a lone driver accelerate down the lane at the...

Two drivers race their vehicles at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Friday evening. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Two drivers race their vehicles at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark...

Glenn White, bottom, looks up and talks with young spectators at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Friday evening. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Glenn White, bottom, looks up and talks with young spectators at...

Fred Irby uses a sweeper to clear water from the track at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Friday afternoon. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Fred Irby uses a sweeper to clear water from the track at the Ben...

A group of track workers moves down the return road while Fred Irby uses a sweeper to remove water from the track Friday afternoon. The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway held their normal "street night" on Friday, June 13, 2014. Anyone with a car and a desire to go fast is welcome to try out their vehicle at the track.
Photo taken Friday 6/13/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

A group of track workers moves down the return road while Fred Irby...

Fans watch Saturday's races from the backs of their vehicles along the sides of the track at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Fans watch Saturday's races from the backs of their vehicles along...

Blaine Hightower drives a junior dragster down the strip at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Blaine Hightower drives a junior dragster down the strip at the Ben...

Brooke Heckel is wheeled up to the line in her junior dragster during qualifying runs at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Brooke Heckel is wheeled up to the line in her junior dragster...

Terry KC Jones, a driver from Houston, Texas, burns out before making a run on the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway track Saturday afternoon. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Terry KC Jones, a driver from Houston, Texas, burns out before...

Driver James Morton from Houston, Texas, gets his front tires off the ground during a qualifying run at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Driver James Morton from Houston, Texas, gets his front tires off...

Richard Fazio's vehicle is encompassed in smoke as he burns out before a qualifying run at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Richard Fazio's vehicle is encompassed in smoke as he burns out...

A driver performs a burn out before a qualifying run during Saturday's races at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

A driver performs a burn out before a qualifying run during...

Spectators watch a motorcycle return from a run at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Spectators watch a motorcycle return from a run at the Ben Bruce...

Drivers line up for their lanes and classes before qualifying runs at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Drivers line up for their lanes and classes before qualifying runs...

Drivers compete during a second round of qualifying runs at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Drivers compete during a second round of qualifying runs at the Ben...

Bryan Smith from Merryville, LA, kicks up some smoke as he burns out before a run at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday. The "No Way Out" racing competition was held Saturday at the Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Photo taken Saturday 6/21/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

The streets of Evadale can be pretty quiet on a weekend night, but during weekends in summer there's a ¼-mile stretch of asphalt in town where there's almost sure to be a line of traffic.

The Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway, also simply known as Evadale Raceway, boasts the region's only drag strip.

On most weekends from May through November it's a magnet for drivers and race fans from Texas and Louisiana.

During a typical racing night earlier this month, dozens of pickups with lowered tailgates were parked behind the protective fencing in gaps between the grandstands, providing makeshift seats and front row viewing for spectators waiting to see dozens of vehicles lined up to race.

Track manager Fred Irby estimates that a typical race night brings out about 75 – 100 drivers and about 600 fans, but said that the track can accommodate up to 250 racers and 2,200 spectators.

Those patrons and drivers soak up an atmosphere filled with the sights, sounds and smells generated by tricked out vehicles and spurts of high-speed racing.

Irby is in his ninth year directing the track's operations.

With a passion for people and a penchant for

racing, he has developed a venue where guests are family and speed is king.

"When I first got here, I knew nothing about (operating a track)," Irby said. "The racers, I've tried to listen to them and to other track managers. This track is so different than others because it's a hometown track."

Because of its proximity to Louisiana, its hometown feel extends to both sides of the state border, with more than half the racers typically coming across the state line according to Irby.

"I like it because it's friendly people and it's close for us," Chapman said. "This is pretty much home for us. Everybody treats us like family here."

Monica Zeno is a spectator who has followed her family from Welsh, Louisiana to the track for about four years, watching her husband, sons and friends race motorcycles.

From a fan's perspective, she echoes Chapman's sentiments.

"I think it's a good family atmosphere because we come as a family and enjoy it. I know some may not consider it safe, but I consider it safe. They have an ambulance out here. It's a monitored environment. It's just as safe as being on the road."

Families with young children are definitely represented in the audience, too. Nellie Haynes of Lumberton said she and her husband have frequently brought their children to the track for about eight years.

"I don't see much drinking or hear profanity. I think it's just got a good family feel," Haynes said. "We just love watching racing. My husband has a Mustang and his brother drives a Camaro. It's just something we have a big interest in."

The lure of speed is at the heart of the experience, but it takes a showman's touch to make it compelling theater.

During the five or six hours of racing, drivers bombard the senses with revving engines, squealing tires and bursts of thick billowing smoke carrying the fumes of fuel emissions and burning rubber aloft.

"It all ties together, it's all part of the show and the excitement of it," said Irby.

"You've got to try to put on as smooth an operating show as you can to maintain five or six hours of interest. You're making sure cars are going down the race track one car right after another."

"I like the feeling of the raw horsepower, the smell of burnt rubber, and 112 (octane) fuel," said Chuck Hale, a novice racer from Bon Weir. "It's music to my ears and like roses to my nose."

The 61-year old Irby has seen a lot change in drag racing since his youth, when he would street race in Orange or drive at the now defunct Golden Triangle Drag Strip.

"I was pretty proud of my (¼-mile in) 13 seconds car," said Irby, "but now you can get that kind of car off the showroom."

Many of the competing vehicles, including motorcycles, ATVs and trucks, as well as cars, now careen down the ¼-mile corridor at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, delivering an adrenalin rush to drivers.

"It's like an addiction really when you get it in your blood," said Don Cohrt of Nederland, who raced at Golden Triangle Drag Strip in the 1960s and continues at Evadale Raceway now. "You're going down through there with a sensation of speed."

"It definitely gets the adrenalin pumping," said Hale. "You don't want to let off of the gas at the end of the track."

Richard Willett of Orange is still excited about coming to the track in spite of hitting a retaining wall at Houston Raceway Park five years ago while traveling 125 miles per hour. His compulsion for testing fate is hard for him to explain, though.

"It's just hard to describe the sensations," he said. "I don't think they make a drug that will do that to you."

As addictive as the sport can be, it can also be costly for its devotees, leading Chapman to cite another measuring stick of success beyond the obvious one of beating an opponent down the track.

"Anytime we come out here and we don't break nothing, it's a good day," he said. It's nice when you win, but it's also good when you don't break nothing. It can be an expensive sport."

The combination of satisfied fans, compulsive car owners, and a thrilling show all add up to success on Irby's tally sheet.

"I live for this. This is closure for my week. It's just something that you have to enjoy doing. You have to be passionate about it."